A conventional stereoscopic subtitle display method disclosed in Patent Literature (PTL) 1 allows stereoscopically displaying subtitles included in a video and adjusting a shape or display coordinates of the subtitles to popup a “balloon” from the mouth of a speaker.
Here, a conventional stereoscopic subtitle display method is described in detail with reference to FIG. 8 and FIG. 9.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a conventional stereoscopic subtitle display apparatus 800. The stereoscopic subtitle display apparatus 800 in FIG. 8 includes a program receiving unit 801, a video reproduction unit 802, a depth level input unit 803, a video depth adjustment unit 804, a subtitle reproduction unit 806, a video combining unit 807, and a display unit 808.
FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a stereoscopic subtitle displayed by the conventional stereoscopic subtitle display apparatus 800. A display image 900 in FIG. 9 is an image displayed on the display unit 808 at a certain moment. This display image 900 is obtained by superimposing a first subtitle display area 920 and a second subtitle display area 930 on a video 910.
The video 910 is a stereoscopic video obtained by converting the video reproduced by the video reproduction unit 802 by the video depth adjustment unit 804. In the first subtitle display area 920, a subtitle instance 921 is displayed. The subtitle instance 921 according to an example in FIG. 9 is “Fine, thanks!” In the second subtitle display area 930, a subtitle instance 931 is displayed. The subtitle instance 931 according to an example in FIG. 9 is “Oh! How are you?”
The depths (Z coordinate which is a position in a perpendicular direction with respect to the display plane of the display unit 808) of the subtitle instances 921 and 931 are determined for the first subtitle display area 920 and the second subtitle display area 930, respectively. Furthermore, the lengths and the designated coordinate positions of the character strings displayed in the first subtitle display area 920 and the second subtitle display area 930 (partial area represented by the X-Y coordinates on the display plane of the display unit 808) are determined for the subtitle instances 921 and 931, respectively.